Page 35 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Communication in organizations 24

Figure 3.1 Meta-communication

Now we discuss a situation where the conversational partner jumps from one subject to
another. It is then useful to signal this, and to agree to pay more attention to each subject:

Harry Haddock drops in on Bert Berman.

HARRY: I’ve just come to see how the menu for Compudate is going. Carl and I would
like to make an appointment with the head of their staff club. By the way, did you ever
hear anything about the problem that Charlotte had with the estimate for Simon? Was
it miscalculated or not?
BERT: To start with that last point: no, it was not miscalculated, but…
HARRY: Talking about calculations, I must tell you such a strange story that I heard at
Quack’s. They started a new project and now…
BERT: Sorry Harry, can I just interrupt. I’ve got the impression that we are discussing
different things at the same time. I suggest we work through them one by one. What
do you think?

Sender skills—reactive

Refusing
In organizations it is not only common to ask other people something, but frequently you
also receive requests. If you wish to fulfil the request there is usually no problem. It
becomes more difficult when you do not find the request reasonable, or you do not have
the time. In general, there are three possible ways of reacting.
• Subassertive: even though you do not see the reasonableness of the request, you fulfil it.
If you do what the other person wants, the result is that this person is content.
However, most of the times you are left with a feeling of dissatisfaction, because you
did something that you did not actually want to do.
• Aggressive: you indicate in an unfriendly tone what you think of the request and you
refuse to do it. Often the result is that the other feels insulted and the atmosphere is
detrimentally influenced.